Controversial energy company Business Energy Solutions is facing a class action from business customers who claim to have been misled into taking on hugely expensive energy contracts.

Solicitor Christopher Newton, of Newtons Solicitors in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, told Financial Mail he had been contacted by several businesses unhappy about their dealings with BES and energy broker Commercial Power, both of which are owned by Andrew Pilley.

Last week, Newton successfully defended a hotel business in court against attempts by BES to disconnect it in a dispute over bills.

Expansion: BES has applied for new licences to supply energy under two names

He has had previous court dealings with BES on behalf of a number of
small businesses and is now looking to mount a class action.

Newton
said: 'Court proceedings that we have issued against BES on behalf of
individual businesses have been concluded, but we are unable to disclose
terms of settlement due to confidentiality clauses insisted upon by
BES.

'The group action we are preparing will include a claim
for punitive damages against BES due to the consistent nature of the
complaints made by their customers.'

Financial Mail reported
last year how one businessman had to sell his shop after falling prey to
rogue energy traders. His contract had been arranged through an energy
broker called Commercial Energy.

The energy supplier was BES,
which at the time firmly denied any allegations of wrongdoing,
insisting that it took 'any allegations of mis-selling by its sub-agents
extremely seriously'. Pilley has always denied being involved in
mis-selling.

In February, Financial Mail reported how Pilley
had applied for new licences to allow him to supply energy under two
different company names, BES and BES Commercial Electricity.

Despite
objections, regulator Ofgem last week confirmed that it had granted the
licences. A spokeswoman said licence holders must 'abide by the
relevant licence conditions or risk enforcement action'.

Phil McCabe, spokesman for the Forum of Private Business, said: 'Ofgem appears to be a toothless tiger.'

Contact Christopher Newton at chris@newtons.co.uk to join the class action.

“Your
articles about Business Energy Solutions (BES) including those on
February 26 and March 11 have been unbalanced and inaccurate and your
continued pursuit of us is tantamount to harassment. BES is a
successful and reputable energy supply company. You describe us as
“controversial” suggesting wrongdoing yet there is no evidence to
support this. Like almost all suppliers, we rely on independent brokers
to contract with customers and we make every effort to regulate their
practices to ensure ethical and honest selling. But ultimately we have
no control over their sales forces. We operate in a highly regulated
market under the authority of Ofgem which is presently investigating
five of the “big six” energy firms for “poor customer service,
mis-selling and dodgy pricing”. BES has operational controls beyond
Ofgem’s requirements yet we have never been the subject of any formal
Ofgem investigation in the seven years we have held a supply licence.Andy PilleyManaging DirectorBusiness Energy Solutions Ltd”